Odessa Sights

Marine Passenger Terminal

Description

The passenger terminal of the port of Odessa is the biggest in Ukraine with the latest equipment and facilities matching those in Europe. Ships up to 272 m long with the draft of up to 11.5 m can moor to it. Up to 4,000,000 passengers can use it annually. It was built in 1968 by architects V.Golovin and V.Kremlyakov.

The terminal is under construction in this photo.

It went through a complete overhaul in 1993. An interesting detail: the building does not have a foundation and rests on piles driven into the sea bottom.

There are several monuments on the passenger terminal, a church, an exhibition of old anchors, etc. The main building is home to offices of banks and travel companies, there are exchanges, a bar, a restaurant, stores, souvenirs, a post office, etc. There are often exhibitions held in the main building as well as in the concert hall in the ground floor below the main deck. A grotesque hotel is behind the building. Many Odessites detest it and their unhappiness is shared by the UNESCO. Hopefully, this wisdom tooth would be extracted one day.

Cruise ships often dock at the terminal. Sometimes two gigantic ships can be seen at a time, to the right and left of the passenger terminal. The tourists are usually retired people from the US and EU. Crowds of them can be seen downtown in the summer and fall.